Bobsleigh at the 2010 Winter Olympics – Two-woman

Two-woman
at the XXI Olympic Winter Games

Gold medalist Canada-1 team of Kaillie Humphries (driving sled) and Heather Moyse during the fourth run of the bobsleigh two-woman event on 24 February 2010.
VenueWhistler Sliding Centre
Dates23–24 February
Competitors21 teams from 13 nations
Winning time3:32.28
Medalists
 Kaillie Humphries
Heather Moyse		  Canada
 Helen Upperton
Shelley-Ann Brown		  Canada
 Erin Pac
Elana Meyers		  United States
Bobsleigh at the 2010 Winter Olympics
Two   men   women
Four   men  

The two-woman bobsleigh competition at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, was held at the Whistler Sliding Centre in Whistler, British Columbia, on 20–21 February.[1] The German team of Sandra Kiriasis and Anja Schneiderheinze (Schneiderheinze-Stöckel since 2007) were the defending Olympic champions in this event.[2] Great Britain's team of Nicole Minichiello and Gillian Cooke were the defending world champions in this event.[3] The test event held at the Olympic venue was won by the American duo of Shauna Rohbock and Elana Meyers.[4] The last World Cup event prior to the 2010 Games took place in Igls, Austria (southeast of Innsbruck) on 22 January 2010 and was won by the American duo of Rohbock and Michelle Rzepka[5] while Kiriasis won the overall World Cup.[6]

Records

While the IOC does not consider bobsled times eligible for Olympic records, the FIBT does maintain records for both the start and a complete run at each track it competes.

The start and track records were set at the test event for the 2010 Games on 6 February 2009.

Type[4] Date Team Time
Start 6 February 2009  United States
Erin Pac
Michelle Rzepka 		5.17
Track 6 February 2009  United States
Shauna Rohbock
Elana Meyers 		53.53

Qualifying teams

On 20 January 2010, the FIBT announced that the following teams had qualified for the 2010 Games:[7][8] This was finalized on 26 January 2010.[9][10]

Three teams
Two teams
One team

Australia was added following a 9 February 2010 Court of Arbitration for Sport decision for inclusion of them in the two-woman event in the wake of the exclusion of Oceania from the event.[11] In the meantime, Australia recommended that Ireland remain in the event.

Practice

Supplemental training was offered on 19 February 2010 to both the two-woman and four-man bobsleigh events out of caution and further preparation for both events in the that would take place the following week.[12] American bobsledder Shona Rohbock expressed concerns on the 19th that the track could generate speeds that are too dangerous for racing.[13] She stated that she had never experienced speeds at even bobsleigh track she had experienced, event at the St. Moritz track.[13] Officials had told Rohbock that they are considering sanding the runners to slow down the sleds to slow down the speeds.[13] Elana Meyers, an American brakewoman, commented on Twitter that same day that "We (referring to her and her driver Erin Pac) went 145 km/h (90 mph).. that's fast!"[13] Assistant Coach of the US Team, Scott Argir, was also on record about the abnormalities of the track. One crash occurred on the 19th for the two-woman event when Dutch bobsledder Esme Kamphuis crashed out in the final corners of the track.[13]

Minor changes were made to the track on 22 February 2010 after bobsleigh four-man teams from Latvia and Croatia rolled over in supplementary training.[14] Following a meeting with 11 team captains, training runs were postponed by the FIBT until later that day to adjust the shape of turn 11 so it would be easier for sleds to get through the rest of the track without crashing.[14] FIBT spokesman Don Krone stated that "...some drivers have been experiencing difficulties transitioning from turn 11 to turn 12."[14] As a result, Krone stated that "The FIBT track commission, in conjunction with VANOC and with advice from a number of team captains, are working on the shape of turn 11 to make it easier for drivers to get high enough on 11 to turn 12 so that they can successfully make it through turn 13."[14] Krone also stated that it was common that the profile of corners were changed when it was being used by other sliding disciplines (luge and skeleton).[14]

Results

The first two runs took place on 23 February at 17:00 PST and 18:00 PST.[1] On 24 February, the final two runs took place at 17:00 PST and 18:15 PST.[15]

Defending Olympic champion Kiriasis of Germany finished fourth. Meanwhile, defending world champion Minichiello's sled flipped over after turn 12 during the third run, but the British driver and her brakeman Cooke walked away from the crash at the finish line. Minichiello and Cooke decided not to start the final run. In the final run, Russia 2 crashed which kept them at their finishing position of 18th place. Germany 2's team of Martini and Logsch were in fourth place after the third run, but were disqualified after Martini crashed in turn 13, causing Logsch to be ejected from the sled. Test event winners Rohbock and Meyers of the United States, the defending world championship silver medalists, finished sixth and third, respectively. Humphries broke the start record for the first two runs and tied it in the third run while also breaking the track record during the first three runs. Pac had a bad final run, dropping the sled she and Meyers had from second to third. Upperton had the fastest time to move Canada 2 from third to second in the final run. It was the first Olympic medals for all of the top three finishers.[16] Meyers was the first woman from the American state of Georgia to win a Winter Olympic medal.

TR = Track Record. Top finish in each run is in boldface.

Rank Bib Country Athletes Run 1[17] Run 2[18] Run 3[19] Run 4[20] Total Behind
1st 2 Canada (CAN-1) Kaillie Humphries
Heather Moyse 		53.19-TR 53.01-TR 52.85-TR 53.23 3:32.28 +0.00
2nd 5 Canada (CAN-2) Helen Upperton
Shelley-Ann Brown 		53.50 53.12 53.34 53.17 3:33.13 +0.85
3rd 6 United States (USA-2) Erin Pac
Elana Meyers 		53.28 53.05 53.29 53.78 3:33.40 +1.12
4 1 Germany (GER-1) Sandra Kiriasis
Christin Senkel 		53.41 53.23 53.58 53.59 3:33.81 +1.53
5 9 United States (USA-3) Bree Schaaf
Emily Azevedo 		53.76 53.33 53.56 53.40 3:34.05 +1.77
6 4 United States (USA-1) Shauna Rohbock
Michelle Rzepka 		53.73 53.36 53.53 53.44 3:34.06 +1.78
7 7 Germany (GER-3) Claudia Schramm
Janine Tischer 		53.65 53.57 53.81 53.65 3:34.68 +2.40
8 11 Netherlands (NED-1) Esme Kamphuis
Tine Veenstra 		53.81 53.59 54.09 53.65 3:35.14 +2.86
9 14 Russia (RUS-1) Anastasia Skulkina
Elena Doronina 		54.38 53.64 54.08 53.83 3:35.93 +3.65
10 12 Switzerland (SUI-2) Fabienne Meyer
Hanne Schenk 		54.04 54.27 54.00 53.82 3:36.13 +3.85
11 13 Great Britain (GBR-2) Paula Walker
Kelly Thomas 		54.19 53.58 54.47 53.94 3:36.18 +3.90
12 8 Switzerland (SUI-1) Sabina Hafner
Caroline Spahni 		54.18 54.70 53.87 54.09 3:36.84 +4.56
13 16 Italy (ITA-1) Jessica Gillarduzzi
Laura Curione 		54.15 54.37 54.40 54.11 3:37.03 +4.75
14 18 Belgium (BEL-1) Elfje Willemsen
Eva Willemarck 		54.27 54.40 54.64 54.17 3:37.48 +5.20
15 17 Romania (ROU-1) Carmen Radenovic
Alina Vera Savin 		54.41 54.46 54.82 54.58 3:38.27 +5.99
16 20 Japan (JPN-1) Manami Hino
Konomi Asazu 		54.64 54.78 54.65 54.31 3:38.38 +6.10
17 19 Ireland (IRL-1) Aoife Hoey
Claire Bergin 		55.04 54.49 54.73 54.58 3:38.84 +6.56
18 15 Russia (RUS-2) Olga Fedorova
Yulia Timofeeva 		54.40 55.21 54.40 57.39 3:41.40 +9.12
19 21 Australia (AUS-1) Astrid Loch-Wilkinson
Cecilia McIntosh 		54.85 54.66 55.16 2:44.67
10 Great Britain (GBR-1) Nicola Minichiello
Gillian Cooke 		53.85 53.73 55.87 DNS
3 Germany (GER-2) Cathleen Martini
Romy Logsch 		53.28 53.32 53.39 DSQ

References

  1. 1 2 2010 Winter Olympics bobsleigh schedule. Accessed 6 November 2009. Archived November 3, 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ↑ 2006 Winter Olympics bobsleigh two-woman results. Accessed 6 November 2009.
  3. ↑ FIBT World Championships 2009 bobsleigh two-woman results. Accessed 5 November 2009.
  4. 1 2 Whistler Sliding Centre World Cup 6 February 2009 bobsleigh two-woman results. Accessed 6 November 2009.
  5. ↑ FIBT Bobsleigh World cup Igls 22 January 2010 two-woman results. Accessed 22 January 2010.
  6. ↑ FIBT Bobsleigh World Cup final two-woman rankings. Accessed 22 January 2010.
  7. ↑ [http://www.fibt.com/index.php?id=88&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=1156&tx_ttnews[backPid]=2&cHash=7b2d9e0c5e FIBT Announces Olympic Qualifying Quotas.] at the Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing 20 January 2010. Accessed 21 January 2010.)
  8. ↑ FIBT bobsleigh two-woman quotas for the 2010 Winter Olympics. 20 January 2010. Accessed 21 January 2010.
  9. ↑ [http://www.fibt.com/index.php?id=88&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=1231&tx_ttnews[backPid]=2&cHash=4d8e3a6464 Olympic Quotas Updated After Reallocation.] at the Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing 26 January 2010 accessed 27 January 2010.
  10. ↑ 26 January 2010 FIBT bobsleigh two-woman final quota allocation. Accessed 27 January 2010.
  11. ↑ "Australian pair bob up to sleigh their detractors". 11 February 2010 Sydney Morning Herald. Accessed 10 February 2010.
  12. ↑ [http://www.fibt.com/index.php?id=88&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=1326&tx_ttnews[backPid]=2&cHash=50036f3ec3 Supplementary Bobsleigh Training Offered in Whistler.] at the Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing 19 February 2010. Accessed 19 February 2010.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 "US bobsledder: Whistler track 'stupid fast'". Tom Withers (AP) Yahoo! Sports 20 February 2010. Accessed 20 February 2010.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 "Bobsleigh-Whistler track tweaked after further spills". 22 February 2010. Martyn Herman Yahoo! Sports. Accessed 23 February 2010.
  15. ↑ [http://www.fibt.com/index.php?id=88&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=1441&tx_ttnews[backPid]=2&cHash=f86d316923 Humphries Takes First Day Lead in Women's Bob.] at the Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing 24 February 2010. Accessed 24 February 2010.
  16. ↑ [http://www.fibt.com/index.php?id=88&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=1461&tx_ttnews[backPid]=2&cHash=709e6cd1e0 Humphries and Moyse Take Women's Bob Gold.] at the Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing 25 February 2010 Accessed 25 February 2010.
  17. ↑ 2010 Winter Olympics 23 February 2010 Bobsleigh two-woman run 1 results. Accessed 24 February 2010.
  18. ↑ 2010 Winter Olympics 23 February 2010 Bobsleigh two-woman run 2 results. Accessed 24 February 2010.
  19. ↑ 2010 Winter Olympics 24 February 2010 Bobsleigh two-woman run 3 results. Accessed 25 February 2010.
  20. ↑ 2010 Winter Olympics 24 February 2010 Bobsleigh two-woman run 4 results. Accessed 25 February 2010.

External links

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